MIAMI BLAST SPARKS FEARS OF TERRORISM FROM HAITI

MIAMI -- The huge explosion that gutted a building owned by a Haitian political activist has ignited fears that Haiti's terror-plagued politics has followed her sons and daughters into American exile.

Police found no evidence of a bomb in the rubble of a block-long building that exploded at 11:25 p.m. on Tuesday with a blast felt miles away.

But sabotage has not been ruled out, and a nervous Haitian community speculated that the blast was linked to the earlier murders of two radio talk- show hosts, staunch supporters of Haiti's newly elected priest-turned- president, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"There are people out there trying to silence those who speak for democracy," said Pierre Almount, a Haitian businessman who visited the explosion site in the 3800 block of Northeast First Avenue on Wednesday. "This is no coincidence. I would have to be stupid to believe that."

Political commentator Fritz Dor, 33, was gunned down as he left work in Miami's Little Haiti on March 15. Jean Claude Olivier, 47, died in similar fashion on Feb. 18.

The blasted building's owner, Ringo Cayard, also supports Aristide in his own radio talk show.

Detectives investigating the murders quickly appeared at the site of the explosion, north of downtown in Miami's design district. Also present were members of the police bomb squad, Miami fire-rescue teams and agents from the FBI and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

No one was injured in the explosion, though it sent shards of glass flying four blocks and flung debris onto State Road 112, on the south side of the building. Most the building's roof collapsed.

The blast ripped street signs and trees from the ground and briefly stopped transmission at nearby WPLG-TV Ch. 10.

"There was this huge explosion and then the sky lit up in green and red and a thick cloud of smoke filled the air," said Danny Meulenair, who lives four blocks from the design district.

Fire investigators said on Wednesday they think gas, not a bomb, caused the explosion. They removed a gas shutoff valve from a part of the building occupied by Le Rendezvous restaurant.

"Sabotage has not been ruled out," said Sgt. David Rivero, a Miami police spokesman.

Cayard said he had received indirect word of threats against his life in recent weeks but declined a Miami police offer to assign officers to protect him.

"The way I see it, there is one life in this world," he said. "If it is time to go, it is time to go."

The pink-canopied building housed Cayard's offices, from which he ran a supermarket and other businesses. It also housed the restaurant, run by his brother, an art gallery and an office of the Haitian American Foundation, a community group.

Cayard immigrated to the United States in the mid-1970s, shortly after his uncle, Octave, led a failed coup against the dictatorial government of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.

Cayard himself is a fixture in Miami's close-knit Haitian community, where opposition to Duvalier and his equally oppressive successors runs strong. Like Dor and Olivier, he bought time on Creole-oriented stations to air his views.

Cayard's show is broadcast Sunday afternoons on WVCG (1080 AM), a Miami station heard as far north as Palm Beach.

All three strongly supported Aristide, although Olivier initially backed another candidate in the election that brought the priest to power.

Detectives have no suspects in the slayings, which are under investigation by a task force including the FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and four police departments.

Both Olivier and Dor received threats before they were shot, police said. If Tuesday's blast is linked to their slayings, few members of the Haitian community will be surprised.

"The first one, we thought it could be personal," said Marcus Garcia, editor of Haiti en Marche, a weekly French and Creole newspaper in Miami. "Now it's a wave."

Rolande Dorancy, director of Miami's Haitian Refugee Center, said, "The killings are being done by people who are against freedom."

Many think Duvalier's most fervent supporters, including the terroristic secret police known as the Tontons Macoutes, are streaming to Miami to escape a crackdown by Aristide.

"Aristide has turned the tide that's been flowing in the country for 40 years," said Ken Boodhoo, professor of international relations at Florida International University.

Boodhoo said the Macoutes, who enjoyed vast economic as well as political power, still hope to regain what they once had in Haiti by terrorizing the exiled Haitians who gave Aristide the moral and financial support critical to his election.

"They're probably trying to re-create the politics of intimidation that they had in Haiti," Boodhoo said. "But I don't see how they could get away with that sort of thing here. It's a stupid escalation, because at this point you're going to bring on every arm of the American government."

Claude Beauboeuf, a political analyst at the University of Miami, agreed that Macoutes are trying to make their presence felt.

"They have the feeling they are losing ground," Beauboeuf said. "They want to demoralize the Haitian people here, because the Haitian community in Miami is one of the most active politically."

Other observers suggested the Macoutes are retaliating for economic pressure against their own businesses, including picketing and boycotts that were advocated by Cayard, Olivier, Dor and other Aristide supporters.

Whatever the explanation, Cayard remained defiant.

"I deal with politics," he said. "I'm helping the new government, and I'll keep on helping the new government because the government was elected by the people -- and this is the right thing to do."

Olivier espoused similar views in his program on WLQY (1320 AM) and Dor in his on WKAT (1360 AM). Both stations are extremely popular among Haitians because they are the only broadcast outlets featuring extensive news, commentary and entertainment in Creole.

Dor, a paralegal for the Haitian Refugee Center, served on the organization's board of directors and was a member of Veye Yo, a vocal Haitian-American political organization, center director Rolande Dorancy said.

Since Dor's death, WKAT has added locks on inside and outside doors, including an inside bolt on the door leading to the broadcast booth, station manager Arnie Premer said. Today, the tiny station, in the lobby of a condominium on Biscayne Boulevard, will broadcast special programming in the slain man's honor.

"He did more than politics. He did a show for the community," Premer said. "He brought so much good."

Olivier, known on the air as "Division Star," called his program Radyo Pep- la -- Radio of the People. He was known for his sarcastic views and banter with listeners.

"He was the heart of the community," Dorancy said.

WLQY station manager Rick Santos said other Haitian broadcasters, including Olivier's on-air partner, also have been threatened.

The fear that has stalked the station since Dor's slaying was abruptly revived by the explosion, Santos said.